


The sword that protects

by Cuddle_Meister



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 00:52:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1799467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cuddle_Meister/pseuds/Cuddle_Meister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaoru teaches Kenshin a lesson in sword-fighting.</p><p>(Written for Ruroken Week, day 1: A lesson or training)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The sword that protects

"HAAAAH!" 

With a scream that ripped through her entire body, Kaoru’s shinai came swinging down with force enough to crack a man’s skull, had one been in the way of her blow. Sucking in a deep breath, Kaoru held perfectly still, then began the routine again. Down, step, down, step, down, power built within at every motion. Her movements grew fierce and sharp, focused entirely on the tip of her shinai. 

She could feel the energy rising inside her, making every nerve tingle as she breathed in and out in perfect time. Soon it would need release, soon…

But someone was watching. 

Whirling around on the ball of her foot, Kaoru turned to face the intruder, only to find Kenshin leaning against the doorway, watching her movements with a close eye.

"Kenshin? What are you doing here?" Kaoru asked, letting the shinai fall from ready position and shifting to an upright stance. 

"Oh, nothing, that I wasn’t," Kenshin said, smiling and lifting his hand in a small placating gesture. "Only one has not heard you practice since Yahiko left, and was only curious…"

"Yeah…" Kaoru reached up to rub the back of her neck, and gods she was so sweaty! She must look disgusting right now, not to mention…"It’s been a while, I’m a lot more rusty than I thought." 

Kenshin nodded thoughtfully, though Kaoru couldn’t for the life of her tell what he was thinking behind those warm eyes. For a moment he made no movement at all, then, as if he had decided something very suddenly, he gave her a small, polite bow. “One will continue with the dinner preparations then, that I will.” 

"Ah…" Kaoru started forward, speaking almost before she realized what she was saying. "You can stay, if you want. I don’t mind." 

"Really? One doesn’t wish to presume…"

Kaoru nodded. “It’s alright—if you don’t mind watching me practice, anyway.” 

Kenshin settled himself by the door, smiling. “It would be one’s pleasure. Thank you.”

Kaoru turned around so that Kenshin was behind her, lifting her shinai to a ready stance once again. Down, step, down, step, down…she couldn’t see Kenshin, but she could feel his presence behind her, watching her every movement. And honestly, what was she thinking, asking a master like him to watch her basic practice routine, after she hadn’t even touched a shinai in weeks—it was embarrassing is what it was.

She could feel the energy build up inside her, nervous and jittery this time, rather than clean and bright like it should be. When the final strike came down, the shinai practically shivered in her hand. 

Silence. Kaoru grit her teeth, determined not to look back and see Kenshin’s expression, whatever that may be. Just one person watching and her practice fell all to pieces—and who was she trying to impress anyway? It’s not like anything she could do even held a candle to Kenshin’s skill, and they both knew it. This was exactly why she was never included among his partners in battle, why even Yahiko was more suited to fighting than she was…and he was her student!

Kaoru sucked in a breath, hissing through her clenched teeth, as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She lifted her shinai again—down, step, down, step. She would get it RIGHT this time, gods curse it all!

"Kaoru-dono?" 

Kaoru shifted around to where Kenshin was standing a polite distance to her side. Bringing up the heel of her palm to her eye, she wiped away the tear that was threatening to leak out. “Sorry, yes?”

"One was wondering, that is, since we’re both here, and one has always been curious…"

"Yes, what is it?"

He bowed, deeper than she had ever seen him bow to anyone before. “This one wishes to learn the final technique of the Kamiya Kasshin ryu.”

Kaoru stepped back in surprise. “You…you want to learn the hadome?”

Kenshin stayed in his bow, not lifting his head to meet Kaoru’s eyes. “This one knows he has no right to ask, not being a student of the style, but while one has seen Yahiko perform it once, this one has never seen it performed by a true master.”

"A true…" Kaoru gaped in shock for a second, before pulling herself together and bowing to Kenshin in kind. "While it”s not usually done..in your case I would be honored."

At this, Kenshin lifted his head, his eyes bright and smiling as Kaoru handed him the spare shinai from the stand. “Now, what do you know about holding an opponent’s sword?” she asked.

"Very little, truth be told."

"Honestly?"

"In the Hiten Mitsurugi ryu, if the opponent has the time to land a blow that must be blocked by holding their sword, the battle has already been lost."

"I suppose that’s true…" Kaoru said.

"However," Kenshin continued, "Despite what my sword style would say in theory, one can think of several instances where such a technique would have been useful."

"Alright then, Kaoru said, shifting into the proper stance, "I will show you how it’s done first. Strike me." 

Kenshin nodded, the only warning that Kaoru got before his shinai came swinging down over her head. She could tell he was checking his speed, but it was still almost too fast for her to block.

Almost. But not quite.

Holding the shinai by her wrists, she slid her hands down the blade of it, flipping it neatly out of his hands. In less than a second, she side-stepped a quarter of the way around him, slamming the hilt of her shinai into his shoulder. The blow wasn’t hard, only enough to make it sting a little, but it was hard enough to make it clear that, in a real battle, that strike would have probably put his shoulder out of commission completely, or at least leave it seriously hurting.

Kenshin rubbed his shoulder lightly, smiling. “Impressive,” he said. “To disarm and neutralize an opponent so quickly, without once using your own blade—truly this is a technique worthy of being an ougi.”

Kaoru smiled, standing upright as Kenshin picked up his shinai where it had fallen to the floor. “Are you ready to try it now?” 

Kenshin nodded, shifting into a defensive stance, “Indeed.” 

She struck, and unlike Kenshin had just a minute ago, she put her full force behind the blow. For a second, she was not his friend or his sparring partner, nor even Kamiya Kaoru of the Kamiya Kasshin ryu. Instead, she was an enemy with every intent of killing him.

Kenshin jerked in place, as if he were about to dodge, and threw his arms up a split second too late, the blade of Kaoru’s shinai bouncing off his forearm.

"AGAIN!" she shouted, already striking down once more. Kenshin got his hands up faster this time, but his grip on her blade was not solid. She could feel the question in his hands—did he still have time to run—and she slipped her shinai out of his grasp before he even had a chance to start the next part of the move. 

"You must be a wall, Kenshin!” Kaoru scolded. “I am not trying to kill you, I am trying to kill the people behind you! DO NOT LET ME GET TO THEM!”

Kenshin nodded, his jaw clenching as he moved into position once more. His eyes were serious now, like he was actually facing off against a true opponent. Good, Kaoru thought—and struck again. 

This time, he caught the blade and kept it. Before she could even tell what was happening, his hands were already at the hilt and twisting in one smooth motion. The shinai was wrenched from her grasp, clattering to the floor. 

Continuing in the force of the spin, Kenshin ducked low, aiming a horizontal strike directly at Kaoru’s midsection, only barely stopping himself from landing the blow. Kaoru stared at where he held the shinai, shivering in his hands, his breaths coming in far more heavily than was truly necessary.

"And now I’m dead," she said, almost passively, but there was a note of anger in her voice. "Do you truly think so little of the Kamiya Kasshin ryu, that everything it holds dear can be thrown away for the sake of a paltry victory?"

Kenshin stood, his shinai dropping to his side, his head bowed low. “This one apologizes…one acted without thinking, that I did.”

"You must always think—even in battle," Kaoru said, more softly than before. "You must think first and then act, or else someone will end up dead, and you have not protected—only killed."

Kenshin nodded, his shoulders bowed with an invisible weight. “Shall we try once more?” 

Kaoru sighed and shook her head. “No, I think you understand it as well as you’re going to for now. The execution was excellent, but the rest is up to you. You must consider how best to neutralize an opponent without threatening their life, even if you were using a regular-sided blade. That is the ultimate goal of the Kamiya Kasshin style, after all.”

"This one understands." Kenshin bowed deeply, as he had before. "Thank you, Kamiya-sensei. You have taught this one much today." 

Kaoru smiled, a warm glow growing inside her chest. Maybe she wasn’t Kenshin’s comrade in battle, and perhaps she never would be. Maybe that would never sit completely right with her either. But she was still a sword master in his eyes, despite their obvious difference in skill, and that was somehow even more important.

"You’re welcome."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Ayezur for beta-ing this for me, and helping me out with the ending!


End file.
